› added 3 years ago

212

TIL the American Cold War era stealth plane, the Lockheed SR-71, was made of 92% titanium. Most of this titanium was bought through shell companies directly from the USSR. Enough was supplied to build 32 planes.

Read more bbc.com

via reddit.com

leBr TIL Korean is a “language isolate”, a language with no known relatives. It has more speakers than every other isolate combined.
VMpDD TIL Trees emerged 350 million years ago. It took another 60 million years for wood-eating bacteria to evolve. Trees between this period eventually turned into the most of the coal we use today.
eL5J TIL Kristen Wiig was almost Sweet Dee on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Kaitlin Olson and Wiig were neck-and-neck for the part, with the role ultimately going to Olson. Kristen Wiig joined SNL later that same year.
wODY TIL that the inventor of the Game Boy was originally Nintendo’s janitor; the President of the company happened to walk by and was impressed by a toy he created out of boredom, leading to an illustrious career
XQv8 TIL John H. Kellog, the father of Kellogs, devoted his life to preventing masturbation. He used acid to remove the clitoris and hoped that feeding children plain cereal every morning would help to combat the urges of “self-abuse”